the 6th - and it rained and snowed and was a bit windy and wet and miserable - but we were happy (mostly)

so the 6th dawned - Cait had to leave to go home to work (boo hiss) but cheerily went off; Charlie had been a bit sick in the night - so there were a few slow starters. Cam, paddy and Jem headed out to go skiing - only to come back in after 30 mins as it was wet and that is just not fun. They had night skied last night which sounded awesome. The big guys carved all the way down and Charlie and Jem raced to keep up and had fun and even went in the trees (don't tell Rob).

So we decided to catch the bus to Kutchan and Cam showed us where he used to shop. We bought great cofeee at   great coffee place this morning, and tried a different one this afternoon (back in Niseko - didn't find any coffee in Kutchan); made a snowman; asked some snowboarders who decapitated the said snowman to reinstall its head!; visited some Hunters Hill friends and just hung out. we had lunch at home with lots of goodies from Kutchan. We cooked dinner as well (well Lucy did). Rob and Jem went for a sneaky night ski and it was all good. Lets hope we get some better weather tomorrow.

buying croissants ....

cleaning the snow off the roof

Coffee

all the places the coffee customers cme from

a coffee customer

it was grey - but beautiful

snowman making

chess anyone?

watch your fingers near  the lift doors - 

5 January - great day

A bit of a random collection of photos and stories. There is a new Pizza shop in town that is very actively marketing its wares with a walking pizza slice. 

Cam, Paddy and my friend Caitriona going to dinner

so Charlie and Jem have the Ions from Christmas and a wide range of accessories bought in Tokyo. The trick then was to get the filming working and then to manage to download the clips. Hopefully we will be able to post a clip tonight as they have taken lots of fun things (according to the level of hilarity in the review of the footage).  Over the last 2 days the kids have all skiied together and there was a comment by the boys (small) that it was the funnest day ever. Funnest is a word according to Uncle Mick - Olivia is not happy that turned out to be true.

We went to Raku - a bit of organisation required. Cait and I went up early to reserve a spot in the Q. the doors open and there is a horrified look that we had 9 - but they made it work. Paddy ordered Deer that was delicious - and got well shared. The kids left for the Seico mart to buy icecreams - and the grownups had some sake. very nice.

Pre Sake

On the way home from dinner post Raku and Sake

We woke to a clear day on the 5th - with some sun peeking out behind Yotei. The kids skieed together so I was tour leader for Rob, Lucy and Olivia. Cait was still nursing her sore finger - and so we did some crazy powder and well ... Lucy sort of ended up upside down .....

We did the pizza box chair because we could see to the top. It is always fun. This is Liv - sitting very straight

and Lucy about to get on ....

We had lunch at Boyoso - this tiny wooden hut on the mountain run by the family of the man who was the first Japanese man to climb Everest. He is tiny (wasn't there yesterday) and the food is delicious. My lens was fogged - so Liv looks very like a commercial.

Near the 100m hut was this dude from Taiwan - who was taking a timelapse video of Mt Yotei. It was a long enterprise - a shot every 20mins. He was cool. Lucy and I photographed him ....a lot.

Because Cait didnt ski she cooked dinner. Yum

Paddy lying in a wall of snow waiting for me - yep over his head

And this just made me laugh. Lucy walked up and hugged this fellow and told him "look they have your favourite jam darling" and he had no reaction.  it was a few moments later that we worked out it wasn't Rob - he obligingly posed for a photo

Yotei last night with some moon reflection .......

Everybody skied but Cait ....

Last night we had dinner at home - and the knives are sharp and Cait sliced part of her finger, As those who know me know - I was hopeless in the emergency and had to wait for Lucy to get home to help the medical emergency. Cait is fine - but didn't ski today>

 we had dinner at Bang Bang on the 2nd.  it was fabulous and is celebrating its 30th anniversary

Grilled octopus - yum

so today was a great days skiing. We did lots of runs all over the mountain

checking the ion footage

me - doing a powder run

2 January - Welcome new year and some fun skiing

Usual Niseko weather today - a bit of everything - but it was certainly cold up high, and warm down low some of the time. 32cms of snow overnight - so lots to play with. This is my measure for how much snow has fallen - we see this tractor from our window. That is a happy amount of snow.




The boys headed to Waterfall:

Caitriona went and had a lesson and extended her repertoire of runs. From Learning and development at Brookfield Multiplex to learning and development on the ski fields - doing great and having fun.

out the front of the 1000 metre hut. I resisted the seriously good hot chocolate - but rang the bell for good luck (maybe more than once)....

how sweet is this - love it - carved in the wall on a run down through the rabbit hole to the gondola 

and again for those who say where i s the sun - Mt Yotei covered in cloud on silver dream